


you're a part of me (i'm a part of you)

by Alaneii



Series: Lo's Unlucky 13 Prompt Fills [2]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Klarion (Comics), Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: (yelling; no physical), Alternate Universe, Cats, Childhood Friends, Familiars, Families of Choice, Family and Familiar Sound Very Similar, Friendship, Gen, Kid Tim Drake, Magic, Magical Tim Drake, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Klarion, Prequel, TDC Unlucky 13, TDC Unlucky Thirteen 2020, Tim Drake Gets a Hug, Tim Drake is Not Robin, Tim adopts Dex Starr, fight, just a small one but just so u know it does happen right at the start, making this a prequel fic rather than first chap bc its easier, sorry for all the tags lmao, witchboy is a gender now, yes two of the four characters are cats. what of it?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27122807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alaneii/pseuds/Alaneii
Summary: Tim is scared of losing his only friend, so he wants a way to ensure he won't be alone.But then again, if he pushes too hard, he's going to be alone anyways.Another fill for one of the TDC server's Unlucky 13 prompts!Day 2 :Cats/Blood
Relationships: Dex-Starr & Tim Drake, Tim Drake & Klarion, Tim Drake & Klarion & Teekl
Series: Lo's Unlucky 13 Prompt Fills [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979293
Comments: 14
Kudos: 106
Collections: TDC's Unlucky Thirteen





	you're a part of me (i'm a part of you)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second fic for the TDC halloween event!! I will not be filling the prompts for day 3, unless I finish my fic and do it late, but day 4 (ghost/candles) is already being worked on.
> 
> Please note, as you read - Klarion's pronouns are hy/hym in this fic/au, which reflect the fact that hy is in fact not a boy, but rather identifies as a "witchboy", which in my fic, is a gender hy picked out (and possibly made?) hymself. 
> 
> If you need to think of it a different way, Klarion's gender here is probably most similar to demiboy, or boyflux. But most importantly, while hy does align with a more masculine gender, and hy prefers masc terms, hy is not a boy. Hy is nonbinary, and that is very important to hym. 
> 
> (and for those unfamiliar, hy/hym sound the same as he/him)
> 
> \--
> 
> (as the prompts were cat and blood, i actually did incorporate the blood prompt!! but you won't see it much later in the series)
> 
> \--
> 
> once again, i must thank the incredible daria (@dariadraws on tumblr, @nevertrustakobold on ao3).
> 
> without her, this fic would have not been so good - and it also would have never been posted.
> 
> thank you, once again, for not only your help, but your kind words and your friendship that i am so honored to recieve.
> 
> love you.

Drake Manor had seen its fair share of raised voices, but usually they came and went with the elder Drakes. For voices to be raised in anger in their absence was beyond rare, and yet, the argument currently echoing out of Tim's open bedroom door was loud enough to rattle the windows. They had been at it for nearly a half-hour already, and showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

“I can HANDLE IT!” Tim yelled again, face flushed with fury and breath coming in short, heaving gasps as he started yet another circuit of the room.

Klarion, from hys position lounging upside-down and halfway off Tim’s (previously neatly-made, currently rapidly dishevelling) bed, fixed him with an unimpressed stare. “I told you already, Tim, no you  _ can’t _ .”

“How can you say that if you won’t even let me  _ try _ ?”

“How about because it could  _ kill you? _ I’m your teacher, Tim, but I’m also your friend, and I’m saying  _ no _ . I won’t teach you something so dangerous.”

Tim glared at hym, casting around for some argument he could make that wasn't one of the venomous insults he was just  _ barely  _ holding back behind his teeth. He was supposed to be smart, a literal child prodigy, always prepare to defend his position in a debate, but all he could think about right now was that looking at Klarion was quickly eating away at his already-tenuous self-control and if he didn't find something else to look at,  _ right now _ , he was gonna hex hym right in hys stupid, familiar-having face, and consequences be damned.

He spun on his heel and stalked away, headed for the door and the relative peace of the hallway beyond. He wasn't going to  _ hide _ from Klarion, not in his own damn house, but maybe if he could just… find somewhere else to be, cool down enough to think, then he could come back here with a strong, unassailable argument and  _ make _ Klarion agree with him.

There was the sound of movement from behind him, and then a muffled  _ sliiide-thump _ that sounded suspiciously like a body finally succumbing to the pull of gravity and falling off a bed. 

Tim ignored it, and the not-so-muffled curses that followed, and kept walking to the door.

“Tim!” came Klarion’s voice, annoyance from their argument finally breaking through under the threat of losing Tim’s attention once he left. Tim fully intended to ignore this, too; to just keep walking, head held high, right out that door, but a movement in his periphery caught his eye, drawing his gaze, and there she was. The thing he wanted so badly. A familiar.

He flushed, preparing for her scorn, or perhaps even anger on Klarion’s behalf, but what he saw instead brought him up short. Teekl was…  _ scared _ . Scared, and sad, and  _ fuck _ , Tim was in the wrong here, wasn't he.

Fine.

_ Fine _ .

Tim was a big boy, he could admit when he made a mistake. He took another second just to breathe, back to the room as he slowly tried to bully at least  _ some _ of the wound-up tension out of his body. It helped more than he’d expected, until, when he finally turned back to face the room, his anger had dimmed from the furious, spitting beast of moments ago down to something simmering and manageable.

Klarion had retreated back to hys original perch once Tim no longer looked in danger of leaving hym alone, and now sprawled sulkily at the foot of Tim’s bed. Tim brandished a finger at hym, breathing slow and deliberate to keep from cracking the fragile seal keeping his anger at bay.

“Alright,” he hissed, “ _ fine _ . You don’t want me to do it? Then I won’t. I’ll back off. But in exchange you walk me through the process and tell me  _ exactly _ how it’s done. And the moment it becomes possible, you're helping me make it happen. Ok?”

It clearly wasn't. Klarion bristled just like an angry Teekl at Tim’s words, baring hys teeth in an outraged snarl, but Tim knew he had hym cornered. It was cruel, probably, leveraging hys concern for Tim’s well-being against hym, but Tim was maybe not feeling his most merciful at that moment. 

“Well, Klarion?” he prodded, once it became clear the witchboy wasn’t going to answer on hys own. “Do we have a  _ deal _ , or are you going to let me go this alone?”

Klarion’s expression was downright mutinous, but in the end hys desire to protect Tim from himself clearly won out, and hy flopped forward onto the bed with a disgusted sigh. “Fine,” hy muttered thickly into the comforter, pointedly not looking at Tim. “ _ Fine. _ You win! I’ll tell you. But you have to  _ promise me _ you won’t start this without my express permission.”

Tim nodded solemnly. 

“Okay. I agree to your terms.”

“Deal?”

“Deal.”

As they shook hands, Tim couldn't suppress a tiny shiver of glee. It wasn’t quite the outcome he’d been hoping for, but it was a start. More importantly, it wasn't a  _ no _ , and that was all he needed. He’d gotten his foot in the door. The rest, he could sort out later.

* * *

An hour later found Tim slouched back in his favorite bean bag — purple, fluffy, and nigh-inescapable — sipping at his juice box. He fussed for a moment with his snack tray, settling in and arranging himself and his plate of cookies before starting to speak.

“Klarion?”

The witchboy eyed him warily from hys own beanbag across the room. “Yes?”

Tim looked hym straight in the eyes. 

“I’m sorry, K. I know I have to trust you — and, and I  _ do _ , and you know I appreciate everything you teach me. It’s just… hard, sometimes. Seeing what I can’t have. What I can’t be.”

Klarion shot Tim one of hys kinder smiles. 

“It’s okay, T. You’re my best friend, remember? And I know I wasn’t making it easy, yelling at you like that.”

Tim let out a relieved sigh. Klarion wasn’t angry with him. They were still good.

“All good, Klari. Now, tell me — how  _ can _ I get a familiar?”

Klarion smiled wider, sitting up in hys own beanbag and setting down his bottle of Sunny-D. 

“So you know how I got Teekl, right?”

“Yeah! A mix of your magic and a bit of soul and some… you know. Other stuff. Ingredients. ”

Klarion snickered. “Ingredients. Nailed it. But yes, totally! So I was able to create Teekl, because my issues with magic were always more a matter of control and focus than anything else. I was already kinda overloaded, so Teekl actually helps me focus the magic, and ensures my spells go right. Make sense?”

Tim nodded eagerly.

“Right, good. So what I did is, I created a vessel of pure magic, and then used reagents with strong magical properties to imbue the spirit. I also tore off a piece of my soul — which, by the way, is  _ way  _ more dangerous than you’re treating it — and let it grow inside, which is why I call Teekl my soul. Because in addition to some other bits, Teekl is  _ literally _ my blood, magic, and soul.”

Tim turned and looked at Teekl. The familiar was sitting on Tim’s recently-closed computer, and Tim was pretty sure he’d just seen her lick her paw and swipe it over her ears. 

But then again, he had also seen her transform into a giant,  _ very _ sharp-toothed creature the size of Tim’s bed, and literally eat a man’s head clean off his shoulders.

(Gotham criminals didn’t try to kidnap Tim anymore.)

So yeah, Tim could see it.

He looked back at Klarion.

“Your issue was control, but that’s not my biggest concern, is it. My weakness is that my magic hasn’t had long to grow. So I couldn’t make a being out of my magic, because I wouldn’t have enough?”

Klarion nodded solemnly. “Exactly. It would probably kill you.”

Ah. 

Yeah, that.

“Not… the  _ ideal _ outcome.”

Klarion shook hys head emphatically.

“You know I can pull people back, but you also saw how hard it was for me to heal  _ and _ revive that Robin for you last year. And while obviously I care about you way more, I’m not sure how possible it would be to put you back together after the kind of magical explosion that kind of stunt would cause, and I’m not super interested in finding out. So let’s just. Cross that one off the ol’ options list. At least until you’re, like. Twenty five.”

Tim scrunched up his nose.

“ _ Twenty-five _ ? That’s, like, super old! I’m barely ten!”

Klarion rolled hys eyes. “Tim, I am  _ literal _ centuries old.  _ Centuries. Plural. _ ”

“You don’t COUNT,” Tim huffed, waving hym off. “You literally admitted to me that you didn’t start aging like me until we bonded souls! You’re like a year older than me, tops!”

Klarion just laughed. 

“Okay, yeah yeah. But basically, you can’t create a familiar from nothing like I did with Teekl, so we need a base for you to work with.”

“A base?”

“Yeah! And it won’t be easy, sadly.” Klarion brought up his hand, counting on his fingers as he spoke.

“First, it can’t be an inherently magic creature. You need your own magic to be what grows inside them, so if they come with their own, things will not go well.”

Tim dug a notebook out from under his bed and settled in to take notes.

“Second, they gotta be sentient. Partially because of your whole Thing about asking permission, but also because I don’t think your magic is quite to the level of creating sentience from scratch just yet. You’re close! And probably could be fine by the time we actually found a candidate, but it’s easier this way — plus, again, your hangup about getting permission.”

“It’s  _ polite,  _ Klarion.”

“Polite shmolite. I still think you can just use something without sentience, but whatever. Moving on?”

“Moving on.”

“Ok. So, third, most animals won’t actually be  _ able  _ to handle the magic you would imbue them with, ‘cause, again, can’t use anything inherently magical. The channels just aren’t there. So basically,  _ theoretically  _ I’m sure there’s a lot of options, but they’re all super rare, so I don’t know what we would do for that. But you can’t, like, just grab a rat from an alley and pump it full of magic and not expect it to explode. Although… this  _ is _ Gotham, so  _ your _ rats are probably used to worse, and maybe would actually get stronger, but I feel like they would probably then take over the world? So like. Let’s not.”

Yeah, that was super fair.

“So just to sum that up, for me to create a familiar, I need to find a non-magical, sentient, and extra-beefy creature.”

“Yup! And don't forget, since you're asking  _ permission _ , you also gotta hope it doesn't just turn you down.”

  
  
  


“Right. Is there anything else?”

“I mean… yeah. But that’s the main points, those and the fact that — well, you know how organ donors work, right?”

“You know I do, I’ve literally info dumped to you about them before.”

“Yeah, that was actually awesome, you infodumping is the best thing ever. Anyhow, think of it like how transplants can go wrong if you have a different blood type or something. Basically, your souls need to be compatible.”

“I guess it’s too much to hope that there’s some kind of quick, easy Magical DNA test we could do to check for this?

“Of course not,” Klarion scoffs, rolling hys eyes, “because why would any of this ever be  _ easy _ , right? It’s not magic if the recipe isn’t obscure and convoluted, and the attempt doesn't come with a high chance of drop-kicking yourself straight off the mortal plane. Anyways, there’s also the matter of camouflage. Teekl can blend in because she takes the form of a cat, but there’s plenty of creatures that otherwise match the criteria, but would draw way too much attention. You’re a rich kid, you could probably get away with some pretty exotic “pets”, but some of the creatures are bigger than your  _ house _ , or literally made of fire, or need a steady diet of tortured souls to keep them healthy. Just because they’re capable of being a familiar, doesn't automatically make them a good fit as  _ your _ familiar.”

Tim chewed his lip. “And I’m not good at being patient…”

He trailed off as he stared at a photo on the wall. 

Klarion grinned at hys friend.

Tim turned, and seeing hys smile, beamed back.

“Thanks, K. Hey, you wanna go hunt down an ice cream truck?”

Klarion’s laugh was bright and clear as hy rocketed out of hys beanbag and over to Tim’s, dragging him free and pulling them both towards the door. 

“I thought you’d never ask.”

* * *

Tim was going to die, and he wouldn’t even get to tell Klarion goodbye. 

Or his parents. 

Except he hadn’t seen his parents in four months, and actually this time he  _ had _ gotten to actually say goodbye before they left, for a change. Plus Klarion had told him — many times! — how many near-death experiences when he was younger would have been  _ real _ -death experiences, if the witchboy hadn’t been around, so like. Yeah, he was maybe a little more torn up about Klarion.

… Though maybe he should focus a little more on the flying thorns coming his way, if he didn't want to get torn up in a much more  _ literal _ way.

Tim tried to find cover, crouching behind a food cart as Poison Ivy yelled incoherently.

A giant vine slammed down next to Tim, sending him frantically rolling the other way, only to look up and see more vines, because of-frickin-course Tim was gonna die by plant. 

This is why Tim hated eating his vegetables.

But just before it made contact, Tim suddenly felt himself being lifted up into the air, sailing over to an alley on the other side of the street. Stumbling at the landing, Tim landed on one knee, looking up to see…

Oh crap, that was Jason.

ROBIN, that was Robin!

_ Robin could NOT know that Tim Drake was out on the streets at evening in Gotham. _

Tim hurriedly bent over, expressing his thanks, and motioning for  _ Robin _ to go back to the fight, not standing back up until he was sure he was gone.

God, that was close.

Now what?

Tim looked up at a fire escape, trying to guess how high it was.

It definitely was taller than Tim could jump. But, if nobody was around, maybe he could give himself a little boost? An invisible stair or two never hurt anybody (well, except Blake, but that dude was a bully anyhow), right?

Tim was getting ready for his grand escape when he heard it. A meow.

Fucking hell, Catwoman was part of this, too?

Tim didn’t like Catwoman. She made too many puns and Tim was pretty sure she had intentions to turn him to a life of crime, and he already had one so-called supervillain to rehabilitate, thank you very much. 

Tim hissed an annoyed breath out through his teeth and spun around to face— huh. No one. She wasn’t there. 

But the meow came again, so that probably meant there was an  _ actual  _ cat here somewhere.

Tim did like cats. 

Okay, he was biased because of Teekl and her ability to eat people whole and cast spells and all. Teekl was really cool.

But also he did really like cats.

So Tim walked further down the alleyway, peeking behind the dumpster to find an angry cat with it’s foot stuck in...a fucking bear trap? The fuck?

Okay first of all, how did that even go off. The cat wasn’t  _ that _ heavy.

Second of all, just, why a bear trap. Gotham anti-theft measures were absurd.

...Unless there was a bear walking around the city? God, Tim hoped there wasn’t.

But the cat was hurt. Tim could help with this.

Carefully, Tim crouched deeper and shuffled forward further behind the dumpster.

“I’m really sorry about this,” Tim admitted guiltily, “you deserve better. Honestly, you should just find your way out of Gotham. People do wild shit here, and you seem...okay, I’m not gonna say nice enough, but to be fair, you’re probably nicer when you’re not in pain.”

There you go. His magic was firmly wrapped around the metal now.

“This is going to hurt, okay? I know you probably can’t understand me, but I’ve been learning about first aid ever since...well, I’ve been learning, and Klarion says I need to work on my bedside manner, so you’re my practice, I guess. And practice makes perfect, yeah?”

Tim quickly cast a soft-shell spell to protect his eyes from any claws that may come.

“Alright, I’m going to remove this. I really hope you don’t run away too fast, because if you stay here, I can heal you up good as new. Alright, on the count of three, I’m gonna pull this open. Kay? One, two,”

A powerful yank from both sides, and- “three! Let me just put this aside to dispose of later.”

Surprisingly, the cat wasn’t running away, which was fantastic news.

Tim pushed away his thoughts and looked at the injury closer. 

“Oh that,, really does not look good, I’m really happy you didn’t run. That probably would have made this even worse, and I don’t even know what would happen if I couldn’t heal it. But you didn’t, so good news! Doctor Tim is here to help!”

Was that a chuckle?

Tim looked around, peeking around the side of the dumpster. Okay, no people in sight.

Tim tentatively reached out and let the cat sniff at his hand once again. Once the feline bumped his head against Tim’s hand, Tim pet him slowly. Carefully reaching down, Tim supported the leg right below the injury. Moment of truth.

_ “Kiiali vian deda.” _

Tim watched as the wounds closed up before his eyes. Even now, years into his apprenticeship, it still felt almost unbelievable when Tim used magic - true magic, the kind that you knew there couldn’t be any tricks or any science doing the work for you.

And then, just like that, the silver cat was healed, and by the sound of things, the fighting outside Tim’s alley was over with.

As Tim watched, the cat stood up, stretched carefully, and walked around in a circle before settling back down.

“Alright, I’m going to leave you here. I hope you find your way safely...oh. Huh, I didnt give you a name, did I? How about...Smokey, because of what a pretty blue gray you look. I hope you find your way safely, Smokey.”

Tim turned away, and made to go home.

“My name isn’t  _ Smokey _ .”

...What.

* * *

Klarion couldn’t lose him. 

Tim was hys best friend. Hys only  _ true _ friend, honestly.

Tim was the only one who understood Klarion. Who treated hym as another kid, rather than trying to force him to be a hero or a villain. Who let Klarion teach him, and not just magic, but about anything and everything Klarion wanted to talk about. 

And Tim taught hym as well. 

From his infodumps about how things worked, to how to skateboard, Tim taught Klarion.

He even taught hym how to care again. How to love someone other than Teekl.

Klarion needed Tim. He needed his best friend.

And now Ivy had destroyed what looked like a whole block, with dumb plants of hers, including the record store Tim wanted to visit, and god, there were so many ambulances, and  _ where was Tim. _

He was nearby, Klarion could feel it, but even if he was alive he could be injured, and Klarion couldn’t see him, and couldn’t focus enough to check with magic, and he couldn’t lose him he couldn’t  _ lose him _ ,

Oh god, hy was going to cry.

“Klarion!!!!”

The witchboy in question whipped around, trying to find the voice he knew so well. Hy scanned the crowd frantically, until finally, “Over here, K!” hy heard Tim again, and turned, and saw him standing at the end of an alley.

_ He was okay. _

Klarion took a few hurried steps, trying not to run, before giving in and dashing across the street to hug Tim. 

And just like that, his soul felt right again. 

Tim hugged him back tightly, and they stood like that for a few minutes. Both of them sagging into each other, neither of them acknowledging how wet their shoulders may or may not have been. 

Finally, Tim breathed in slowly and leaned back, taking just a moment for the friends to touch their foreheads before they both pulled away.

Tim wiped his eyes (which of course weren’t wet, and Klarion of course had no idea why anyone would think such a thing) with his hand, smiling at Klarion. 

“I got distracted, but, I have something to show you!”

If Tim was focused on a record he had bought right now, Klarion was going to make him go to a therapist, whether he wanted to or not.

Hy watched as Tim turned, stepping back into the alley and crouching down, and-

_ Oh please say he did not actually find a giant rat. _

“What is on your shoulder?”

Tim stepped out into the light, thankfully allowing Tim to see what was NOT a rat, but instead a rather large cat perched on Tim’s shoulder.

Tim reached up, scratching the neck of the beast of a cat on his shoulder. 

“This,” he said, “is Dex-Starr! But he said I could call him Dex for short.”

Tim beamed.

“And he also said he’d  _ love  _ to be my familiar.”

**Author's Note:**

> yes, this WILL have more in this universe! i already have many many ideas, as well as a planned multi-chap, and I am _incredibly_ excited to write more of this. please tell me what you like, so i can improve as i write the later works, and make them as perfect as possible!
> 
> also i just really love comments pls give me comments


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